Apr 16 2008
Random Thought: The Black Kids in My Class
It has taken me 34.75 years to notice. This surprises me since I am usually atune to the feelings of others. That’s emphathy. My first grade teacher taught me that. I didn’t learn the lesson right away. I figure it was in the second grade when I started to put the pieces together. It’s such an easy concept. Simply put yourself in the position of the person you are judging. It’s difficult to take a harsh stance against another’s actions when you slip into their shoes.
So I don’t know how I missed it, but I sure did.
Though I did notice that the word nigger is used in the classics (Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird), I never, until today, thought about how the black kids in my classes felt reading books where the black characters were referred to as a nigger. This struck me today while reading Of Mice and Men. A female character threatens a black one. She uses the word nigger and states that one word from her and the next day he’d find himself hanging from a tree. Wow. Just typing that brought tears to my eyes.
I wish this post had a point, but it doesn’t. It’s a thought that hasn’t left my mind all morning.
I would say have a class discussion about it but it might bring trouble down on your head. I don’t know what grade you teach but when I was in high school 12th grade (1998). Our class watched “A Raisin in the Sun” a good play I probably didn’t appreciate at the time.
At the end of watching it and reading it we had to answer questions. One of the questions was what word did the mother not want to hear in her house? I raised my hand thinking I knew for sure and I was totally wrong. I said nigger and the whole class was amazed that it came out of my mouth. The correct word was cracker, something about respecting other people. But without reading/watching the play closely you’d never think that was the answer.
rosemary, thank you for commenting. I’m not a teacher. I’m a writer. My post was just remembering my JH/HS days. Teachers definately had discussions about how blacks were treated, but as I said in my post, I never thought about what my black classmates felt.
The character in the clipping looks more like the model I had of The Visible Man.
You know the one - made of see through plastic so you can see all the bones and organs and whatnot…
i guess i’ve gottin color blind !!! i hear and can’t believe this ever happened!!!! went on vacation with my daughter( from INDIA) and her boy friend and someone asked me if my daughter looked like me and i said kind of through the eyes and nose and strolled on. PARKER said you hear what you just said ????? are you forgettin LYNDZ is brown????? lady w2as shocked when we showed for dinner!!! a quiet laugh we all had to bad it was at her expense!!!!! but she is beautiful!!!!
bionic marsh
[…] taught me that. I didn??t learn the lesson right away. I figure it was in the second grade when I sthttp://auriacortes.com/random-thought-the-black-kids-in-my-class/Shelf Life New Orleans Times-PicayuneOccupation: School psychologist. What I’m reading now: “The […]